As we suspected last month, director Matt Shakman now confirms that Marvel has cut John Malkovich from the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, which gets released next week.
Malkovich was set to play the Red Ghost and was going to appear in a scene at the start of the movie involving the earlier years of the FF battling the Red Ghost and his Super Apes. The actor even appeared in the first teaser trailer.
What happened?
Via Variety, Shakman confirms John Malkovich has been cut, noting that the actor “was brilliant in it, and gave it his all.”
The reason is said to be due to the use of so many characters.
“There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor,” Shakman said. “When we were building a ’60s retro-future world, introducing all of these villains, introducing these four main characters as a group, as well as individually, introducing the idea of a child — there was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie and some things had to go ultimately in terms of shaping the film for its final version.”
Shakman previously worked with Malkovich in Cut Bank.
“It was heartbreaking not to include him in the final version of the movie because he’s one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations,” added Shakman. “As a person who walks the line between theater and film and television, there’s no one who is more inspiring than the founder of Steppenwolf Theater Company. What he’s done on stage as an actor and what he’s done as a director in theater as well as in film, and as just a film actor of incredible ability — I was honored he came to play.”
When the casting was first announced, Malkovich told GQ about his dislike for superhero movies: “The reason I didn’t do them had nothing to do with any artistic considerations whatsoever. I didn’t like the deals they made, at all.”
He continued, “These films are quite grueling to make…. If you’re going to hang from a crane in front of a green screen for six months, pay me. You don’t want to pay me, it’s cool, but then I don’t want to do it, because I’d rather be onstage, or be directing a play, or doing something else.”
Release Info
The Fantastic Four: First Steps premieres July 21 in Los Angeles and opens in theaters July 25. Directed by Matt Shakman, the film kicks off a new era for Marvel’s First Family in the MCU.
The movie stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing.
They’re joined by Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles.
